Pregnancy outcomes of COVID–19 positive pregnant mothers at a tertiary care centre in Colombo     

Background and Objective: The COVID–19 pandemic affected almost all aspects of health. It appeared to increase morbidity and mortality among pregnant women in Sri Lanka, during the 3rd wave. The aim of this study was to determine maternal and neonatal outcomes in mothers with active COVID-19 infection.
Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted over a period of 3 months during the 3rd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on 59 mothers who were either admitted to the maternity isolation ward with active infectio or were positive for COVID-19 at any point during gestation and came for delivery to the professorial unit obstetric ward. Socio demographic details, vaccination status against COVID-19 and details regarding management were collected using an interviewer administered questionnaire and analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS – 23) software.
Results: A majority of 33, 55.9% experienced mild symptomatic disease, 25, 42.4% were asymptomatic and one developed pneumonia. Disease severity showed no statistically significant association to the trimester of contracting COVID-19, vaccination status, mode and timing of delivery or intrapartum and postpartum complications. A significant percentage (18%) delivered preterm where 77.8% of them had active disease. Low birth weight was reported in 22.7% of the newborns. Majority (71.7%) of the study sample underwent lower segment caesarean section where most (80.7%) had active disease at delivery. All newborns tested for COVID-19 status were negative.
Conclusion: An increased percentage of preterm delivery and low birth weight was observed with no statistically significant associations with trimester of contracting COVID-19 or vaccination status.